Frontios Part 4
The Doctor and his companions must stop the Gravis and his Tractators from using a gravity motor to control planets and spread their influence across the galaxy.
The Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough find themselves on the planet Frontios, where they encounter the Gravis and his Tractators. The Gravis has been using a gravity motor to control the planet and its inhabitants, and plans to use it to drive Frontios through the galaxy, stealing and plundering wherever they go. The Doctor and his companions must navigate the Tractator lair, the research room, and other locations to stop the Gravis and his plans. Along the way, they meet various characters, including Norna, Cockerill, and Range, who aid or hinder their progress. As the story unfolds, the Doctor and his companions discover the true nature of the Tractators and the Gravis's plan, and they must use all their skills and ingenuity to stop him and escape from Frontios.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The episode opens with the Doctor and Tegan as captives of the Gravis, who details his plans for the Operations Centre and his awareness of the Time Lords. Simultaneously, the colonists face internal struggles; Norna fends off an attacker and is later rescued by Cockerill, who is organizing an armed resistance against the Tractators. The Doctor, ever resourceful, attempts to gather information and subtly mislead the Gravis, even using Tegan as a prop in a feigned malfunction. Captain Revere dies, highlighting the Tractators' ruthlessness. Range, lost in the tunnels with Brazen, eventually encounters Turlough, who joins their desperate search. The Doctor inspects the tunnelling machine, deducing the Gravis's use of gravitational engineering to manipulate Frontios. Plantagenet is forcibly linked to the machine, prompting the Doctor to secretly advise him to trust his instructions. The tension escalates as Range is captured by a gravity beam, and a chaotic rescue attempt unfolds in the Operations Centre, where Brazen saves Turlough from a Tractator beam, but Tegan chastises Turlough for disrupting an unseen plan. This act establishes the immediate peril, the antagonist's full ambition, the fragmented resistance efforts, and the Doctor's initial, indirect maneuvers to understand and counter the threat. The stage is set for a direct confrontation within the Tractator's Lair.
The Doctor and Tegan confront the Gravis in the Tractators' Operations Centre, a cavernous chamber marked by a spiral design. The Gravis arrogantly reveals the facility’s true purpose as a …
In the Operations Centre's tense atmosphere, Tegan challenges the Doctor's willingness to share intelligence with Gravis about Gallifrey's non-intervention policy. Her pointed remark about the TARDIS's compromised state forces the …
The second act plunges into the direct confrontation within the Tractator's Lair. The Doctor, Tegan, Turlough, and Brazen arrive, interrupting the Gravis's demonstration. The Doctor initiates his counter-plan by pulling a crucial linkage from the tunnelling machine, which temporarily stuns the Gravis and disorients the other Tractators. This moment of vulnerability allows Norna, who had been gagged and tied, to free herself in the Research Room, signaling a broader shift in the colonists' fortunes. However, the victory comes at a cost; as the Doctor attempts to free Plantagenet, Brazen is tragically assimilated by the machine, sacrificing himself to ensure the Doctor and Turlough escape. Following this harrowing escape, the Doctor, Turlough, Plantagenet, and Tegan regroup in a natural cave, where they synthesize their knowledge. Turlough recalls the critical secret: the Tractators are inherently harmless burrowing creatures, drawing all their power and menace from the Gravis. This revelation provides the Doctor with a clear path to victory. The urgency intensifies as an Orderly is captured, and Tegan discovers the partially reassembled TARDIS. The Gravis finds them, intending to use Tegan as a new driver, but she escapes into the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor reveals his audacious plan: he will trick the Gravis into reassembling the TARDIS, thereby isolating and neutralizing the creature. The Doctor then engages the Gravis in a deceptive negotiation, luring him into the TARDIS. Once inside, the Doctor manipulates the Gravis into activating the TARDIS reassembly process, using the creature's own gravitational powers against him. The TARDIS dramatically reassembles, and the Gravis collapses, rendered inert and harmless by his isolation from the other Tractators.
Cockerill leverages his military instincts to force an abrupt shift in tactics, abandoning reasoned discussion in favor of armed resistance. His decision to distribute weapons forces Norna to confront the …
Tensions in the research room erupt as Cockerill dismisses calls for restraint and begins arming a resistance force, threatening to escalate violence against the Tractators. Norna struggles to be heard …
Range’s fear threatens to fracture the group’s fragile mission as Brazen’s pragmatic leadership faces collapse. Turlough appears unexpectedly, dispelling despair with decisive action and redirecting their efforts toward the Operations …
Turlough intercepts Brazen and Range in the claustrophobic tunnel and leverages their desperation to redirect the mission. He overrides Brazen’s resistance by offering a clear objective—the Operations Centre where Tegan …
In the Research Room, Norna shatters Cockerill’s despairing assumption about the colony’s leadership vacuum by declaring Plantagenet remains alive. This revelation exposes a vital asset to the Frontios resistance, undermining …
The Research Room becomes a crucible of doubt as Retrograde voices the only sensible objection to Cockerill’s plan—a plan that could doom Frontios to the Tractators’ control if wrong. His …
Range arrives in the research room just as Cockerill attempts to rouse his colonists into resistance against the Tractators. His interruption with the declaration that the invaders have already overwhelmed …
Turlough breaks his carefully maintained facade by confessing to the Doctor that he remembers everything about his servitude to the Tractators, including their gravity motor operation and planetary conquest agenda. …
Tegan’s urgent warning reveals the excavating machine has suffered a catastrophic systems failure, threatening to trigger a chain reaction capable of disabling the gravity motor. With the Gravis accelerating his …
With the Gravis defeated and the TARDIS repaired, the narrative shifts to the aftermath and resolution on Frontios. Plantagenet and Range, now fully recovered and back in uniform, reflect on the Doctor's bravery and the creature's harmless state. Turlough collects the hat stand, a symbolic piece of the TARDIS. The TARDIS materializes, and the Doctor confirms the Gravis is safely deposited on the uninhabited planet of Kolkokron, where his gravitational powers are now harmlessly directed at rocks and boulders. Plantagenet expresses the profound realization that humanity, the last of its kind, is now truly alone in the universe but in good hands. The Doctor, adhering to Time Lord protocols and his own pressing repair work, declines an invitation to stay, offering Plantagenet the hat stand as a simple, yet meaningful, farewell token. The Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough enter the TARDIS, which dematerializes, leaving the Frontios colonists to rebuild their lives free from the Tractators' terror. Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor sternly warns Tegan and Turlough about the severe consequences if the Time Lords ever learn of their intervention on Frontios, emphasizing the strict policy of non-intervention. However, their relief is short-lived. The TARDIS engines begin to malfunction again, making a strange noise and accelerating uncontrollably. Despite the Doctor's attempts to dismiss it, the TARDIS judders violently, and they realize they are being pulled by an unknown, powerful force towards the middle of the universe, setting up a new, immediate threat and a fresh adventure.
The Doctor and Tegan enter a deceptive Tractator tunnel, believing it safe for rest. The Doctor deduces the Tractators are engineering a planetary gravity motor. Turlough explains the device will …
The Doctor and companions take shelter in a natural cave to assess the Tractator threat before a gravity beam suddenly captures an Orderly outside. This reveals the Gravis’s unexpected resources …
The Doctor and Tegan discuss the Tractators' gravity motor and the urgency of stopping their plan to control Frontios. When the Orderly is dragged away by a gravity beam, the …
The Doctor seizes the initiative by proposing a desperate truce to the Gravis, offering total surrender of Frontios in exchange for sparing the TARDIS. As the Gravis steps inside to …
The Doctor lures the Gravis into the TARDIS with a false offer of surrender, knowing the Tractator leader’s pathological obsession will override tactical judgment. Once inside, the Gravis’s focus narrows …
The Doctor seals the Gravis's imprisonment on a barren world while Plantagenet and Range reflect on humanity's isolated survival. Presenting a modest token—a salvaged hat stand—the Time Lord underscores his …
The Doctor ensures the Gravis is stranded on a lifeless planet while Plantagenet and Range reflect on humanity's isolation. In a private farewell, the Doctor gifts the colonists a modest …
The Doctor delivers a sharp admonishment to Tegan and Turlough for their unauthorized interference in Time Lord affairs, warning of severe consequences if their actions on Frontios were discovered. His …
The Doctor dismisses Tegan and Turlough’s warnings about the TARDIS engines as Turlough notices they are accelerating out of control. Before the Doctor can act, a sudden violent lurch seizes …